Software publishing house MacSoft has released a statement to the press which proclaims this company to be the leading Mac publisher, with over 1/3 of the sales in the entire market. The company sees its position as a justification of their shift in direction towards consumer-oriented 'casual gamer' titles such as Monopoly, Scrabble and Jeopardy. Here is an excerpt from their press release:

Dominating the Macintosh entertainment software category for the fourth consecutive year, MacSoft, an Infogrames, Inc. label (Nasdaq: IFGM), today announced that its market share for calendar year 2000 will exceed 37 percent*, far out-pacing its nearest competitor and capturing one-third of all Mac game units sold. The impressive results reflect the successful implementation of MacSoft's new multi-tiered publishing strategy designed to identify new opportunities in the Macintosh gaming sector, while continuing its dominance in established categories. MacSoft's diverse product lineup for 2000 included titles such as Links LS 2000, a dynamic golf simulation; Driver, a realistic driving game; Beach Head 2000, and intense combat game, and a compilation offering aimed at the younger audience entitled, the Mac Kids Pack.

"The tremendous success of the iMac and other new products have brought millions of new users to the Macintosh platform," said Paul Rinde, Senior Vice President and General Manager of WizardWorks and MacSoft. "Understanding this new paradigm, we shifted our growth strategy to not only provide software that the current generation of Mac users have come to enjoy, but also sought to publish content that today's new users require."

Founded in late 1993, MacSoft quickly climbed to become one of the top 10 Macintosh gaming publishers one year after its inception. Heralded for its ability to anticipate shifts in consumer trends, MacSoft entered the hardcore gaming segment and revived what was then a stagnant market with games such as Quake, Duke Nukem 3D and Sid Meier's Civilization II, each of which went on to become top-selling games. Since that time, MacSoft has published more than 100 titles and has added subsequent number one games like Unreal Tournament, Falcon 4.0 and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six to its product mix.

*Source: PC Data

Certainly this growth and stability is a sign of the resurgence of the Mac game market. With three major Mac publishers (MacSoft, Aspyr Media and MacPlay) cranking on all cylinders and a thriving crop of smaller publishers (Monkey Byte, Freeverse, GraphSim, Ambrosia, Spiderweb, etc.) pumping more games into the market, 2001 may indeed be a very fine year for Mac gaming! Congratulations to MacSoft on their continued success, and we can't wait for their next crop of releases.
MacSoft